Digital Gadgets

Old Music Formats Return to New York Thanks to HD Radio arrives on WDUQ Technology

WDUQ-FM (90.5) is the first local station to broadcast in HD Radio, a feature in addition to its regular schedule of jazz and NPR programs.

HD Radio technology enables a broadcaster to carry more than one program channel without adding new frequencies. Listeners need an HD receiver to hear the extra channels, which have the bonus of enhanced sound quality.

“This is a tipping point for a new level of creativity in all of radio,” says WDUQ general manager Scott Hanley. “It’s really exciting to see this come to fruition. It’s something we’ve been working on for many years.”

Even though I live and work in Bucks County, PA, I still listen to New York City radio stations whenever I can. Most of them are flat out more entertaining than stations of the same format broadcasting from Philadelphia. One drawback of listening to New York radio stations as much as I do, however is that there are some significant gaps in the format map:
New York has no country station on AM or FM, since Y-107 changed formats in 2003
New York has no oldies station on AM or FM, since WCBS-FM switched to Jack FM in June 2005

This situation is changing now that several of the major radio station networks are rolling out high definition radio broadcasting, also known as HD Radio. According to an article in yesterday’s New York Daily News, HD radio is bringing back the classic formats on the HD2 channels of many big New York stations. Oldies are coming back on WCBS-FM’s HD2 channel. Country is back on WKTU’s HD2. Modern rock returns to WFNY’s HD2 after just recently being displaced by talk on the primary FM channel.

WDUQ-2 also offers other news and talk programming that isn’t carried here now, including BBC World Service and NPR’s “On Point,” “Talk of the Nation,” “The Diane Rehm Show” and “News and Notes with Ed Gordon.” Followers of “Fresh Air With Terry Gross” who miss the show in its regular time slot can hear it twice a day at noon and 7 p.m. on the second WDUQ channel.

WDUQ-3 is a 24-hour blues channel. That represents something new — a music specialty format that draws a loyal but small audience, which wouldn’t be sustainable on either commercial or public radio.

WDUQ’s conversion to HD was funded partly by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Aside from the potential for programming diversity it provides, HD Radio has several advantages over the traditional radio listening experience. Text information on song title and artist is displayed on the receiver. On the WDUQ HD channels, people listening to an interview program like “Fresh Air” will see the name of the guest being interviewed.

There’s no question that my next tabletop radio for the Home Office will have HD Radio circuitry. The questions are: when will I buy it and what will it cost? I still want to try Satellite Radio for a while, and I may buy a subscription to it before I try HD Radio.

And unlike satellite, once you buy the receiver, the programming itself is free: both XM and Sirius satellite radio charge a monthly subscription fee.

HD receivers for home and auto are still on the high end — a tabletop model is selling for around $500. But as people adopt the technology, prices are expected to drop.

E-TEN Announces G500 Pocket PC Phone with GPS and TMC

It will be released worldwide in March 2006.

E-TEN Information Systems is proud to introduce the G500 Pocket PC Phone, the first PDA phone to have built-in GPS and TMC functions. The G500’s embedded RoyalTek GPS module, featuring the SiRF Star III high sensitivity chipset and an innovative internal antenna design, means that PDA or phone owners who also regularly need to access GPS services, no longer have to carry additional accessories or even a separate GPS device when they travel.”

E-ten has a new devise coming out based on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 with a GPS and Traffic Message Channel (TMC) built into a quad band phone. While this is not the first PPC phone/gps device, its the first with TMC, which will update and reroute accordingly with the traffic information it receives. It also have Bluetooth 1.2 with bundled software like Voice Commander and has a 1.3M pixel camera with a 2.8″ screen. Unfortunately it will not have EDGE.

E-TEN Information Systems is proud to introduce the G500 Pocket PC Phone, the fi rst PDA phone to have built-in GPS and TMC functions. “Building upon E-TEN’s proven record as a successful Pocket PC Phone maker, we are offering our newest device with builtin GPS functionality,” announced company president, Wayne Ma, “The G500 represents our most complete package yet for the mobile professional.” The G500 is the first Pocket PC Phone from E-TEN to have fully integrated GPS capabilities. The G500’s embedded RoyalTek GPS module, featuring the SiRF Star III high sensitivity chipset and an innovative internal antenna design, means that PDA or phone owners who also regularly need to access GPS services, no longer have to carry additional accessories or even a separate GPS device when they travel. No other product makes it as easy or as convenient as the G500 to have the latest satellite navigation technology always on hand.

The G500 is also the first PDA phone with an onboard receiver allowing it to support Traffic Message Channel (TMC) functions in available countries when using the popular GPS application, Destinator™. When traveling, the G500 can receive regularly updated reports of the traffi c conditions ahead and so alert drivers to problems (such as sudden traffi c congestion) that could cause delays on a planned route. TMC’s advanced warning system enables users to make on the fl y changes to their journey, avoiding traffi c jams and holdups and giving them an advantage to reach their destinations on time.

The G500 has been optimized to support many of the popular GPS software packages available for the Pocket PC. Its large touch screen display is ideal for using fingertip navigation controls, while the large storage capacity lets users store roadmaps for multiple countries and destinations directly on the device. E-TEN also includes several unique, in-house developed or licensed software applications that add even more
value to the G500 package. For example Location SMS integrates GPS and phone functions to enable users to send SMS text messages including their precise GPS coordinates to any other SMS compatible phone or device.

As a phone device, the G500 supports GSM quad-band 850/900/1800/1900MHz and GPRS standards allowing users to make and receive voice calls, send SMS text messages, and access data services including email, mobile Internet, and MMS wherever they travel. The G500 also supports Bluetooth® 1.2 enabling wireless connectivity with other Bluetooth devices and accessories. Installed on the G500 are E-TEN exclusive applications that offer enhanced functionality over other Pocket “Building upon E-TEN’s proven record as a successful Pocket

The G500 is the first Pocket PC Phone from E-TEN to have PC Phones including; Voice Commander to enable complete hands-free voice dialing capabilities, Advanced Speed Dial which makes dialing frequent contacts even easier, and GPRS Wizard which simplifies the task of configuring data services such as GPRS, MMS, and WAP.

It’s great to see more PDA’s coming out with support for TMC (traffic message channels)… and thank goodness TMC is beginning to appear here in North America as well!

Intel Core Duo hit by USB battery drain bug

As we reported a few days ago, the team at Tom’s Hardware ran some tests on laptops powered by Intel’s Core Duo, and found some puzzling results: a mystery power drain that seemed unconnected to the processor itself. Now they think they’ve found the answer, and it turns out that Intel is in the clear: the source of the power glitch is a bug in Microsoft’s Advanced Configuration and Power Interface driver, which can cause Core Duo-powered laptops to rapidly run out of juice if they’ve got any USB 2.0 devices connected to them. The solution? Well, actually there isn’t one yet.

Although Microsoft has known about the driver bug since last July, the company has yet to release a patch. Meanwhile, Intel is working on its own fix, so chances are the problem will be resolved in the near future. In the meantime, if you find your brand-spanking-new Core Duo laptop running out of juice quicker than you thought it would, you’ll know who to blame.

Intel may be off the hook as the source of a bug observed by reviews that significantly reduces the battery life of Core Duo-based notebooks - apparently it’s all Microsoft’s fault. Or is it?

The glitch was first noted by Tom’s Hardware Guide last week. The site identified a persistent power drain whenever USB 2.0 devices are connected.

A bug in Intel’s processor or chipset? Not so, said Intel representatives cited by TG Daily. It’s a fault in Windows XP Service Pack 2’s Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) driver - a problem allegedly documented in Microsoft’s Knowledge Base in July 2005, but still unfixed.

But here’s the thing. TG Daily tried to replicate the problem with a previous-generation Centrino notebook and failed. If the glitch is indeed a problem with ACPI, it should have appeared in the older machine. That it didn’t suggesting the real issue may lie somewhere between ACPI and Intel’s 945PM chipset.

Samsung Electronics, India launched a new notebook PC. Both slim and wide, the model Q30 is based around an Intel Centrino-Pentium CPU and has 512 Mb of RAM as well as a 60 Gb hard disk.

The TFT colour widescreen measures 12.1″ across and is Wi-Fi ready. The model is also compatible with the Intel 802.11g standard and comes with Windows XP pre-loaded in it.

Source: ndtvgadgets.com